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Rozner: Youth sports not the evil of our time

Little League is immoral.

And, furthermore, all youth sports are bad for our kids and nearly every team our children play on is run by criminals.

If you were exposed to enough coverage this week in the wake of the Jackie Robinson West scandal, you couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the demonization of sports.

It's not the first time. It will not be the last.

This pops up every now and then, and we should neither be surprised by the disgraceful behavior of a few nor the absurd overreaction by those who have never understood the benefits of sports in the lives of young people.

Most of us grew up playing sports from the time we could walk, and some of us never gave it up, playing decades after the eligibility had run dry. The thirst for competition and the will to win, however, comes from a well that runs too deep to submit to age or injury.

You're reading this right now probably because your love of sports began before you even learned to read.

No, sports are not bad, despite what you've told all week, and youth sports are not evil.

Some coaches are unscrupulous, just like in any walk of life. There will always be those who cheat and steal. There will always be parents who forget the reasons you got involved in sports in the first place.

But most understand the value of the games and the values they teach us.

How many of us, after all, owe so much of what we ultimately become to the lessons we learn on the ice, courts or fields? As much as anything, you learn to win and lose, that humility is crucial in victory and confidence essential in defeat.

Success can be fleeting without the same effort, and failure can lead to greatness with an understanding of your shortcomings.

These are life lessons that stay with you forever. You don't quit when things are going the wrong way. You fight through adversity because only then can you turn it around.

You saw the good teammates and the bad teammates. You saw the good leaders and bad leaders. You experienced the highest highs and the most heartbreaking lows.

And you grew from every experience.

Yeah, sports are part of us. The very sports that were subjected to such incivility this week were such a huge part of our lives then and continue to be now.

They taught us character and determination, toughness and dedication, heart and fearlessness.

We are what we know. We are a product of our environment. It starts at home, and what we learn there affects us forever, just as what we learn on the fields of play helps mold us.

The reality is most coaches understand that 13-year-old all-star teams built to dominate serve little purpose, and those kids from Chicago only did what they were told.

It was the adults in that group who failed the children, not the children who failed because they succeeded on a national stage.

It was the adults in that group who chose their own glory over the opportunity to teach right from wrong and the valuable life lessons gifted by being part of a team.

Most parents don't misbehave in that fashion. Most volunteer their time to be a part of youth leagues because they want to give something back to the games that gave them so much pleasure and taught them so much.

Congratulate those coaches. Pat those parents on the back. Thank them for being good people, investing their time and wanting to be with their kids.

There are also parents who pressure their kids and hold them to an impossible standard, and coaches who sell the belief in the professional athlete lottery.

Those are the ones who rob children of the joy of sport. Those are the kids who burn out and quit, giving up a game they might be able to play for another decade or three.

Shameful, yes, but not the standard most adults want to set.

No, Little League is not evil. Most coaches just want their kids to have fun and maybe find a sport they can play forever, while acquiring in the process life lessons they'll remember with a smile.

They want them to learn that through hard work anything is possible, that leadership matters and that great teammates will be your friends forever.

Yeah, sports are great. They were when you were a child and they will be when your children take their grandchildren to Little League practice.

Anyone who tells you different, sadly, probably never played a game in their lives.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Hear Barry Rozner on WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.

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